Off the couture circuit, there’s no shortage of activities in Paris. Here’s a smattering of the latest finds in the City of Light.

LITTLE GEMS: Small is beautiful, as far as new Paris stores are concerned.

Newcomers on the retail scene include Chanel-owned cashmere house Barrie, which has opened a 215-square-foot store on Rue Saint-Honoré. Decked out with honeycomb-shaped shelves and wall panels in a range of pastel tones, the bijou boutique sells ready-to-wear and accessories such as mittens and scarves.

For its first Paris store, Rivieras is showcasing its leisure shoes in a variety of colors and fabrics in a 325-square-foot space that uses the colorful packaging of the shoes as a key decorative element. The carpeted store, featuring a large-scale photograph of a pool overlooking the sea, is the work of Rivieras creative director Danamza.

WATER WORLD: Making a splash this summer is the newly reopened Molitor, the pool complex dating from 1929 that was shuttered 60 years later. The Art Deco decor has been maintained in the sprawling facility, which boasts an outdoor pool that is 150 feet long and an indoor pool measuring 108 feet in length that’s topped with glass. There are sports centers, a bar and a restaurant headed up by starred chef Yannick Alléno, who takes an experimental approach to cuisine by inviting guest chefs. The roof terrace is equipped for drinks, barbecues and dishes prepared à la plancha.

Hotel rooms here are operated by MGallery, part of Accor, and there’s an 18,888-square-foot spa run by Groupe Clarins. This is comprised of 13 treatment rooms, including two suites, where treatments run upward of 130 euros, or $177 at current exchange.

LOUNGE WITH A VIEW: Rooftop bars have started popping up in Paris. Hotspot Le Perchoir Marais opened last week on the BHV department store’s last floor. The bar, whose name means “hen roost,” opened a location last summer in the 11th arrondissement, which has become a favorite destination for hip Parisians who line up to sip a frozen mojito or a Dark ’n’ Stormy (made with ginger beer and bitters) on a 4,000-square-foot flat rooftop overlooking Paris.

There’s the same drinks menu and laid-back atmosphere at the Perchoir Marais but a different view. This time, it’s of Paris city hall, the Seine and the Eiffel Tower.

SISTER POWER: There’s a bright new bistro in Paris’ 11th arrondissement. Tatiana Levha, the 29-year-old partner of Bertrand Grébaut, the chef behind Septime (where Beyoncé and Jay Z have been guests), has teamed up with her sister Katia Levha, who’s 27, to open Le Servan. Tatiana Levha, previously at restaurants L’Arpège and Astrance, runs the kitchen, while Katia takes care of the dining room. It seats 38, plus four at the bar. “I have always wanted to work with my sister,” said the chef.

Grébaut lent a hand, but not where one would expect: He helped paint the restaurant’s facade.

Menu features change daily and include seasonal products. Recent offerings included crabmeat with green peas, John Dory and Paris-Brest. For lunch, there is a wallet-friendly prix fixe menu at 23 euros, or $31.50 at current exchange. Dinner is priced between 40 euros and 60 euros, or $54.80 and $82.

— Laure Guilbault

Restaurant Le Servan 32 Rue Saint-Maur, 75011 +33-1-55-28-51-82 Open Tuesday to Friday for lunch and dinner, Saturday for dinner only

BEAUTY SECRETS: Taking a cue from the late 18th-century perfumer Jean-Vincent Bully, whose signature brand helped establish French perfumery, entrepreneurs Ramdane Touhami and his wife Victoire de Taillac recently opened their Buly boutique on Paris’ Left Bank. After three years of circling the globe in search of age-old beauty secrets, they’ve brought them home to stock the handsome shop, which measures about 665 square feet. Lining the wooden displays are the likes of emu oil from Australia, poppy powder from Morocco, handmade boxwood hair combs from Japan and what Touhami claims to be the world’s largest collection of beautifying clays.

SPARE ROOM: As a part of the “Grand Louvre” project, which included the building of the Pyramid in 1989 and doubling the museum’s exhibition space, the Louvre has unveiled 35 renovated rooms in its north and west wings offering a compelling overview of the decorative arts from Louis XIV to the French Revolution. More than 2,000 objects, from ceramics and tapestries to furniture and jewelry, are showcased in themed windows or immersed in period rooms. They illustrate not only the history of decorative art techniques and styles but also the places and personalities that made the time span the peak of French artistic savoir faire.

That the abundant collection is primarily comprised of royals’ commissions helps make it unique. Other departments of the Louvre are also lending some of their pieces on a rotating basis.

The renovation was privately funded, with contributions coming from companies including Breguet and through the help of associations like the Cercle Cressent and the American Friends of the Louvre.

MEAT OBSESSION: Hot chef Akrame Benallal of the two-Michelin-starred restaurant Akrame in the 16th arrondissement last week opened a second location of his “Atelier Vivanda” concept on Rue du Cherche-Midi, near Le Bon Marché department store. It marks the chef’s first address on Paris’ Left Bank. Atelier Vivanda is for inveterate meat lovers with a fixed price menu at 35 euros, or $47.80 at current exchange, that includes a starter, a choice of meat (like the black angus), a side of potato (the Dauphine aren’t to be missed) and a classic dessert, such as the crème brûlée or the chocolate mousse.

WHITE-GLOVE TREATMENT: For some R&R during couture season, there’s the new Crème de la Mer spa in the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme hotel. It covers 2,780 square feet and has four rooms. Treatments include a 75-minute “regenerating” facial for 225 euros, or $307 at current exchange; a 75-minute detoxifying facial for 225 euros, and an hour-long body treatment and massage for 195 euros, or $266.

COLOR ME BEAUTIFUL: German makeup brand Artdeco has just opened the doors of its first Parisian boutique, a hop from department stores Galeries Lafayette and Printemps. The 1,888-square-foot location stocks the brand’s entire range that is divided into makeup, nail and skin-care categories. Some treatment products are exclusive to this location, as well. Services here include manicures and pedicures, and there are two makeup bars for lessons or touch-ups. Half-hour treatments are also on offer.

ALL ABOARD: One’s welcome to take the Orient Express at the Institut du Monde Arabe this summer. There, visitors are invited to explore three wagons of the legendary train each of which has a different theme. It’s possible to travel like one of its famous guests, Marlene Dietrich, or experience the intrigue of the eponymous Agatha Christie novel through a recreated ambiance. The exhibit offers a rare opportunity to see the luxury cars as the true works of art they are – especially the rich decorations by master glass artist René Lalique. Also on view are Moynat trunks plus objects and publications documenting train journeys. A dining car completes the experience by hosting dinners by starred chef Yannick Alléno while the exhibition runs.

French pop artist Martial Raysse is under the spotlight – or neon light, that is, as his paintings attest – at the Pompidou Center for a retrospective bringing together 200 works spanning the Sixties to the present day. The show reveals his lesser-known creations, such as large-format fresco paintings, plus features a wide array from the collection of fan François Pinault.

On the other side of town, Italian abstract painter Lucio Fontana’s full range of work is on display, including sculptures and ceramics, with a focus beyond his famous slashed canvases.

After Guiseppe Penone last year, Korean sculptor Lee Ufan takes over the Château de Versailles gardens with stones and steel structures in another attempt to illustrate the dialogue between time and being. The 10 works resulting from his numerous walks in the royal location were especially created for the occasion.

In each of its three cultural spaces, Louis Vuitton is installing an open studio for an international female artist to create live a special work over four months. In Paris, people can view the creative process of Andrea Bowers. The artwork will ultimately be shown during 10 days in September.

Skin is widely exposed both on the streets and in museums during these summer days. The Musée du Quai Branly takes it literally with “Tattoo,” what’s billed to be the first exhibition considering the technique as art. The show presents a thorough survey of tattoo history and highlights the different worldwide meanings of the genre, from a symbol of protest to a fashionable creation. Tatoo artists are also in focus with their prototypes displayed throughout the spaces.

Last but not least, cameras are rolling at the Grand Palais, where 50 screens project 20 works of Bill Viola, the internationally acclaimed video artist. These span four decades of his career.

NEW OASIS: Fashion editors attending the Paris shows will have a new place to stay this fall.

The Peninsula Paris, a luxury hotel located a stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe, is set to open on Aug. 1 after a four-year renovation. The hotel, jointly owned by The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels and Katara Hospitality, is housed in a 19th-century building that is charged with history.

First opened as the Hotel Majestic in 1908, it hosted George Gershwin in 1928, the year he wrote “An American in Paris.” Later, when it turned into a conference center run by the French Foreign Ministry, it was the setting for the signature of the Paris Peace Accords to end the war in Vietnam in 1973.

The Peninsula Paris, the chain’s first European outpost, features 166 rooms and 34 suites equipped with electronic controls, a spa, pool and six bars and restaurants under the supervision of executive chef Jean-Edern Hurstel.

These include Cantonese eaterie LiLi and sixth-floor panoramic restaurant L’Oiseau Blanc, which features a view stretching from the Sacré Coeur to the Eiffel Tower.

The opening of The Peninsula Paris comes at a time of upheaval for the Paris hotel scene, with the closure for renovations of the Ritz Paris, the Hôtel de Crillon, the Plaza Athénée and the Hôtel Lutétia, and the opening in recent years of Le Royal Monceau, the Shangri-La Hotel and the Mandarin Oriental Paris.— Joelle Diderich

NEW LOOK: The fashion museum at the Palais Galliera is celebrating the golden age of French haute couture with “Les Années 50. La mode en France (1947-1957),” an exhibition devoted to the period when Paris regained its crown as the world capital of fashion.

Dresses by legendary designers like Christian Dior, Jacques Fath, Pierre Balmain and Hubert de Givenchy are displayed alongside now-forgotten names like Madeleine Vramant and Lola Prusac. The clothes are shown on geometric gray podiums designed to set off their elegant lines.